Seeing Both Sides: Credit and Sales
By Michelle Kim

Consider these issues:

A credit manager may feel that the salesperson's judgment about a customer is clouded by their personal relationship with the customer. The salesperson may feel that distance from the customer and limited information about the company reduces the credit department's ability to make correct decisions.
The sales department may feel that credit decisions are sometimes arbitrary. The credit department has an obligation to take the time to explain the decision-making process to the sales department.
The credit department may be under orders to reduce delinquencies and bad debt losses. Unless the sales department is informed of these instructions, it may feel that the credit manager is being too conservative.
Before explaining why a negative credit decision was made, the credit manager should preface the conversation by reminding the salesperson that he or she may not be able to reveal all of the reasons for the decision because some information in the customer's credit file may be confidential.

Share |